Israeli troops began withdrawing from the Gaza Strip on Sunday after Hamas declared a cease-fire, setting the stage for intensified international efforts to arrange a durable truce after a 22-day war against ...

A Saudi woman gets out of a car after being given a ride by her driver in Riyadh, on May 26, 2011. Saudi women activists have called for a new day of defiance next month of the long-standing ban on women driving in the ultra-conservative kingdom.(AFP Photo/Fayez Nureldine)

RIYADH (Reuters)- A conservative Saudi Arabian cleric has said women who drive risk damaging their ovaries and bearing children with clinical problems, countering activists who are trying to end the Islamic kingdom's male-only driving rules.

A campaign calling for women to defy the ban in a protest drive on October 26 has spread rapidly online over the past week and gained support from some prominent women activists. On Sunday, the campaign's website was blocked inside the kingdom.

In an interview published on Friday on the website sabq.org , Sheikh Saleh bin Saad al-Lohaidan said women aiming to overturn the ban on driving should put "reason ahead of their hearts, emotions and passions".

Reuters earlier wrongly identified him as Sheikh Saleh bin Mohammed al-Lohaidan, a member of the Senior Council of Scholars, one of the top religious bodies in the birthplace of Islam.

By contrast, Sheikh Saleh bin Saad al-Lohaidan, the person quoted in the sabq.org report, is a judicial adviser to an association of Gulf psychologists.

His comments reflect the extent of opposition to women driving among some conservatives in Saudi Arabia.

"If a woman drives a car, not out of pure necessity, that could have negative physiological impacts as functional and physiological medical studies show that it automatically affects the ovaries and pushes the pelvis upwards," he told Sabq.

"That is why we find those who regularly drive have children with clinical problems of varying degrees," he said.

He did not cite specific medical studies to support his arguments.

The ban on women driving is not backed by a specific law, but only men are granted driving licenses. Women can be fined for driving without a license but have also been detained and put on trial in the past on charges of political protest.

Sheikh Abdulatif Al al-Sheikh, the head of the morality police, told Reuters a week ago that there was no text in the documents making up sharia, or Islamic law, that barred women from driving.

King Abdullah has pushed some cautious reforms aimed at expanding women's freedoms in Saudi Arabia, including opening more employment opportunities for them, but he has not addressed the issue of driving.

Absolutely. Friday, Wednesday, any day of the week will do for your attempt to put it here. Good news, huh? I thought you might find it inappropriate. But, I really don't give a sh!t. Watching you turn that collar around makes it all worth while. You might want to try this. Less effort.

<quoted text>It was a coup that removed Mubarak from office. No screaming from the Administration about withholding aid then. In fact, Sambama praised the military for conducting themselves admirably. Funny how stuff changes when it doesn't suit your particular bias.

There is a State With No Republicans.....Glory, Glory Hallelujah ...A Wonderful Statewith ZERO Republicans(NOT A SOUL TO BLAME BUT THEMSELVES FOR ALL THEIR WONDERFULNESS...)TRULY A DEMOCRATS PARADISE!Now, Consider This:There are more people on Welfare in Illinois than there are people working.Chicago pays the highest wages to teachers than anywhere else in the U.S. averaging $110,000/year.Their pensions average 80-90% of their income. You can't blame that on republicans because there aren't any.Wow, are Illinois and Chicago great or what?Be sure to read till the end. I've never heard it explained better.Perhaps the U.S. should pull out of Chicago ?Body count: In the last six months 292 killed (murdered) in Chicago .221 killed in Iraq AND Chicago has one of the strictest gun laws in the entire US.. Here's the Chicago chain of command:. President: Barack Hussein Obama. Senator: Dick Durbin. House Representative: Jesse Jackson Jr.. Governor: Pat Quinn. House leader: Mike Madigan. Atty. Gen.: Lisa Madigan (daughter of Mike). Mayor: Rohm Emanuel. The leadership in Illinois - all Democrats.. Thank you for the combat zone in Chicago .. Of course, they're all blaming each other.. Can't blame Republicans; there aren't any!. Chicago school system rated one of the worst in the country. Can't blame Republicans; there aren't any!. State pension fund $78 Billion in debt, worst in country. Can't blame Republicans; there aren't any!. Cook County ( Chicago ) sales tax 10.25% highest in country. Can't blame Republicans; there aren't any!. This is the political culture that Obama comes from in Illinois . And he is going to 'fix' Washington politics for us???. George Ryan is no longer Governor, he is in PRISON.. Of course he was replaced by Rob Blajegovitch who is...that's right, also in PRISON.. And Representative Jesse Jackson Jr. resigned a couple of weeks ago. That is because he is fighting being sent to...that's right, PRISON.. The Land of Lincoln , where our governors make our license plates.But you know what? As long as they keep providing entitlements to the population of Chicago , nothing is going to change, except the state will go broke before the country does."Any man who thinks he can be happy and prosperous by letting the Government take care of him; better take a closer look at the American Indian

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/ameri...Obama: I want Americans to know that :"If I ....I.....was....was...out in the streets, I would be ...be...bitten by police dogs"Yep, I guess those criminals eating ham on white just taste and smell better.

When I lived in NY we saw all the time that non "trained" police dogs were barking at all black people all the time. Ask the dogs why. By the way all the blacks were scared shit of dogs. Why?? Ask them. This is nothing new. Those dogs have more sense than most politicians.

<quoted text>When I lived in NY we saw all the time that non "trained" police dogs were barking at all black people all the time. Ask the dogs why. By the way all the blacks were scared shit of dogs. Why?? Ask them. This is nothing new. Those dogs have more sense than most politicians.

The way I see it, the dog is warning the band of brothers approaching it that it wasn't going to cross the street or lock the cars doors like we crazy crackers do. Simple stuff.

From your own reference, I prefer the modern usage. "However, other Floridians find the term highly offensive and insulting: "'Cracker' has a murky history but generally describes poor whites. The slur is widely considered an insult among white southerners..... for plenty of rural, white southerners, "cracker" is a demeaning, bigoted term ... the equivalent of redneck."

And up here, it is used to describe all white people regardless of status. I was asked, in my younger days, "Why do you cracker boys carry Camels rolled up in the sleeve of your T shirts?" My reply, "Why do you BOYS smell like peanuts, put cornstarch on your head and drink Coke by the case?" He said, "How you know dat what I do?"

<quoted text>From your own reference, I prefer the modern usage. "However, other Floridians find the term highly offensive and insulting: "'Cracker' has a murky history but generally describes poor whites. The slur is widely considered an insult among white southerners..... for plenty of rural, white southerners, "cracker" is a demeaning, bigoted term ... the equivalent of redneck."And up here, it is used to describe all white people regardless of status. I was asked, in my younger days, "Why do you cracker boys carry Camels rolled up in the sleeve of your T shirts?" My reply, "Why do you BOYS smell like peanuts, put cornstarch on your head and drink Coke by the case?" He said, "How you know dat what I do?"

If that's what you heard, you're listening to the wrong crackers. Cracker culture transcended the exchange between Spain and the US. It was the social fabric of this state before the advent of barbed wire. "Good fences make for good neighbors" was the outfall so many crooked, transplanted northerners taking advantage of the wide-open plains. Cracker cowmen have a code and a style that serves them still today.

<quoted text>If that's what you heard, you're listening to the wrong crackers. Cracker culture transcended the exchange between Spain and the US. It was the social fabric of this state before the advent of barbed wire. "Good fences make for good neighbors" was the outfall so many crooked, transplanted northerners taking advantage of the wide-open plains. Cracker cowmen have a code and a style that serves them still today.

It wasn't a cracker calling me a cracker. I guess I omitted that very important fact. I didn't think I needed to go any further as crackers don't put cornstarch in their hair to comb the kinks out. The Coke and all was all part of the straightening "process". LOL

<quoted text>It wasn't a cracker calling me a cracker. I guess I omitted that very important fact. I didn't think I needed to go any further as crackers don't put cornstarch in their hair to comb the kinks out. The Coke and all was all part of the straightening "process". LOL

No shit?

You know an awful lot about black people...you've been way more diligent than any racist Florida cracker I know. Have you noticed the same coincidence I have? Hajj and the Nobel prize announcements happen simultaneously. Do you suppose it's because they realize the odds of a Muslim having to interrupt the ritual to accept the an award are astronomically remote?

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